Hi Guys,

I have two exchange organisations on two different AD domains, contoso.com (echange 2013) and fabrikam.com (exchange 2010)


I want to consolidate the exchange infrastructure such that contoso.com hosts email for fabrikam.com (accepted domains), I also want to create a domain trust between both AD domains and have users at fabrikam.com send authentication requests (mailbox and AD joined workstations) to their local AD DNS server (fabrikam.com)

Is this possible to setup?

What is my best option for moving the emails from fabrikam.com exchange infrastructure to contoso.com with minimum plexity?

I appreciate all the help ..

~R

Hi Richard,

Do you mean you want to dismiss Exchange 2010 in Fabrikam.com and host all mailboxes in Contoso.com? Additionally, users in Fabrikam.com can still use their original credential (user@fabrikam.com) to access mailboxes hosted in Contoso.com. Please confirm whether the following Exchange resource forest topology can meet your requirement:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998031(v=exchg.150).aspx

If that is the case, please try the following steps:

1. Move all mailboxes from Fabrikam.com to Contoso.com.

New-MoveRequest -Identity 'user1@fabrikam.com' -Remote -RemoteTargetDatabase DB03 -RemoteHostName 'CAS01.fabrikam.com' -RemoteCredential $Cred -TargetDeliveryDomain 'mail.contoso.com'

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Ee633491(v=EXCHG.150).aspx

2. Convert migrated mailbox from regular user mailbox to linked mailbox:

Disable-Mailbox -Identity User1

$cred = Get-Credential

Connect-Mailbox -Identity User1 -Database "Mailbox Database" -LinkedDomainController FabrikamDC01 -LinkedMasterAccount user1@fabrikam.com -LinkedCredential $cred

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Bb201694(v=EXCHG.141).aspx

3. Create accept domain for Fabrikam.com.

4. Create email address policy for with accept domain Fabrikam.com and apply this policy to linked mailbox.

This is only mu personal suggestion and hope anyone else can provide more ideas for your reference.

Regards,

Hi Winnie,

You captured it correctly, Exchange 2010 at fabrikam.com will be removed and its mailboxes will be hosted in contoso.com as accepted domain. Users will still use their original credentials (user@fabrikam.com) and authenticate with their fabrikam.com domain controller. I'm thinking the configuration of AD trust between both domains will take care of the authentication bit.

From the link you provided, it appears the exchange 2013 is being deployed from scratch. In my case though, both exchange infrastructure are up and in production. I am looking for a way to move the mailboxes from fabrikam to contoso, bearing in mind that fabrikam.com exchange server will be decommissioned after the move. Is there a way I can do this move without a full integration of both exchange infrastructure? I am consolidation about 14 business units (13 running exchange 2010, all of them consolidating to an existing exchange 2013 infrastructure) and would not like to have to integrate each of them entirely.

I wold not mind a third party tool if any exists.

I will study the links you have provided some more ..thanks for the support.

Cheers

Hi Richard,

The Exchange resource forest topology in my link is just a deployment reference to confirm your requirement. In your scenario, we can do cross-forest mailbox move from Fabrikam.com (Exchange 2010) to Contoso.com (existing Exchange 2013). Then manage the migrated mailbox as linked mailbox.

The linked mailbox is a mailbox associated with an external account. They are accessed by users in a separate, trusted forest. The user account that accesses the linked mailbox doesn't exist in the forest where Exchange is deployed. In your scenario, it can meet your requirement that the fabrikam.com forest user can still access the mailbox hosted in Contoso.com.

Generally, the email address for linked mailbox would use migratedmailbox@contoso.com instead of migratedmailbox@fabrikam.com by default. The accept domain and email address policy would change the migrated mailbox to add migratedmailbox@fabrikam.com for your requirement.

Please change the external DNS for fabrikam.com pointed to Exchange 2013 public IP.

Regards,

Thanks a lot Winnie ..I am preparing a lab to try it out before I go into production. I will share my experience with you as I proceed

Thanks again for you support ..

~Richard